JHU SGAThe 114th Session

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MINUTES 11 2026

Minutes / Senate · minutes · 114th session · dated November 4, 2026 · updated November 6, 2026

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114th Johns Hopkins Student Government Association

Senate Meeting #110

November 4thOctober 27, 2026 / 07:00 PM / BSC 404

MINUTES

  1. 1. Call to Order and Attendance (1 min)

    1. Absentees:
      1. Excused: Royce Willis, Veda Kommineni, Emin Soguktas, Noah Sokol, Sophia Baleeiro, Jackson Morris
      2. Unexcused:
      3. Partial Excused: Aarshi Lamichhane, Emin
      4. Partial Unexcused:
      5. Present

  2. 2. Convening Business

    1. Presentation by the Executive Branch (Sumi, Shreemann, Jazz)
      1. Executive vision: to increase effectiveness and influence of senators and exec
      2. Pillars of the vision:
        1. Up: administration
          1. Position SGA as a trusted institutional partner with JHU stakeholders
          2. Ie. seats for SGA members on student advisory boards: public safety, police accountability, sexual violence precention, etc
          3. Wants students on advisory boards from SGA
          4. Reaching out to DR Brown to schedule more exec x admin meetings, Sumi will be making things more accessible
          5. Launching focus groups: focus on specific topics, bring senators and exec members together ie. dining focus group
          6. Advocating for SGA inclusion and transparency in major decision making - emphasize to stakeholders that
          7. A large part is making senator efforts more legitimate in institutional standing
        2. Down: students
          1. Ensuring responsiveness, delivering visible and meaningful improvements
          2. Executive & committee chair office hours
          3. News-letter SGA partnership semesterly updates, surveys, archives
          4. Research chair
          5. RSO budgeting stakeholder reevaluation
          6. REACH: attend other board’s GBMS
        3. Across: within SGA
          1. Build culture of accountability, transparency, and operational coordination
          2. Internal management system
          3. Committee chair x exec meeting + internal committee health report; meet more often
            1. Report from chairs about what the committee has been working on
          4. Liaison framework
            1. Ex: jackson for liaison to SNF Angora
          5. Internal process for student body feedback collection and assessment
      3. Clarifying that the HOP was not allowed to share information about the change in Hoptober fest concert
      4. Nora: what about Shreemann’s platform to connect with Baltimore
        1. Will be attempting to form a coalition of Baltimore college/university SGAs
      5. Demarri: how will relationship with Newsletter ensure that SGA and Newsletter maintains integrity
    2. Voting for Internal Affairs Chair and Vice President of the Senate
      1. Vice President of the Senate
        1. Cole: experience as a student athlete/waking up early, has not had a single absence from committee meetings or GBMs, good relationships with people in SGA,
        2. Isaac: two jobs of VP align well with legislation passed: AI resolution and peabody bill; excited to work with Sumi and Shreemann to do mentee and mentor program
        3. Peter: current chair of finance, wants to increase productivity, also prioritizes SGA, has attended 5/7 committees, build a protegee program where experienced senators can bring younger senators to continue building connections with administration, etc
        4. Kevin: junior class president, streamline initiatives, has worked in 3 committees, been chair of 2 committees, pushed for reform and events
      2. Paul: motion for 10 minute moderated caucus
        1. Luke: support Peter and Kevin
        2. Grace: peter would be good at liaison for entire senate
        3. Kevin 2: endorses peter, good sense of community
        4. Kevin 3: vouches for Peter and Isaac, Peter knows himself around SGA in general, Isaac very welcoming and very knowledgeable on AA
        5. Abraham: being chair of finance allows him to interact across committees and requires a good understanding of the
        6. Mahima: endorses Peter, was there entirety of PSO regardless of the fact he’s not in CSO
        7. Andrei: Peter has contributed massively to SGA (and all of its committees) and tried to unite CSO and finance for events
      3. Abraham: motion to end moderated caucus
      4. Vote: by handraising
        1. Cole: 0
        2. Isaac: 3
        3. Petter: 22
        4. Kevin: 2
    3. Voting for chair of IA
      1. Cole: currently vice-chair of IA, closed session clarification act, working on way to audit and ensure completion of action items, developed close friends within IA and enjoys the work he does
      2. Vote: yes for Cole
      3. Mahima: motion to vote
        1. Confirmed unanimously
    4. Swearing in of Shreemann as VP and Lauryn as transfer student caucus representative

    Amendment and Approval of the Agenda

  1. 3. Public Input

  2. 4. Reports

    1. Cabinet Reports:
      1. Student Body President: Sumire Sumi
        1. Yields her time
      2. Student Body Vice President: Shreemann Patel
        1. In contact with faculty senates of WSE and KSAS, need one rep from humanities and one from STEM, will be meeting with judiciary to clarify past mistakes and move forward
      3. Secretary: Honora Muratori
        1. Attendance policy reminders
          1. Clarify 3 absence rules: fourth absence triggers automatic impeachment
      4. Treasurer: Amy Xu
        1. Able to meet with Tiarra Pitt
        2. Provide resources to RSOs to fundraise if they cannot fulfill needs from SGA resources
        3. RSOs are not connected enough to their advisors
          1. If other senators interested in helping gather opinions on how RSO advisors are, hit amy up
      5. Chair of Programming: Grace Guan
        1. Fall retreat coming up this Saturday
          1. Core hours 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
          2. Missing core hours will count as absence
      6. Director of Communications: Sienna Kim
        1. Sent out email about Blackjays photo event, not everyone got
        2. Global education office: what you can do to make global local
      7. President of the Senate: Jazzlyn Fernandez
        1. Cleared for senator appointments (special appointments)
        2. Before creating full liaison position, assigning liaisons to committees first and then to specific senators
        3. Allotting a certain amount of questions instead of certain amount of times, make sure there are a good amount of questions answers
        4. Has been creating post-GBM updates accompanied by announcements
    2. Advisor Report:
      1. SGA Advisor: Tekeya Peterson
        1. Second senate social 12pm to 1pm tomorrow
    3. Senator Reports Initiatives Updates:
      1. Royce Willis: not here, video report: talking to Hopkins groups about improving system → create weekly calendar
        1. Working with Dr. Brown
      2. Athletes needing later dining, bringing back later dining
      3. As student services committee member, appointed transportation liaison - expand shuttle limits
      4. Related to construction, involve disability services
    4. RC Lamichhane
      1. Working with finance committee to talk about need of Greek life for funding from SGA, do they need SGA funding
        1. Amy: who specifically have you been talking to?
          1. RC: the philanthropy chair of Delt…
      2. Proposing legacy student caucus
        1. Aishani: what problem are you trying to solve
        2. Nifemi: what’s the motivation and personal connection you have to this - still in the workshop stages, will have slideshow by next GBM
    5. Boyi Chen
      1. Internal affairs: procedural clarification reforms going through second reading today, modernized attendance tracker
      2. Academic affairs: most of work with FAs,
        1. Met with Dr. Young, has meeting scheduled with Dr. Water
        2. FAs are supposed to help students, are hindering them from graduation now
        3. Several upcoming meetings with professors and administrators
        4. Addressing FYS requirement for students switching between KSAS and WSE
        5. New survey about course evaluation and grade inflation
          1. Combat grade inflation nation-wide

  3. 5. Non-Legislative Business

    1. Prospective Organization Review - CSO Chair Kevin Xu
      1. Initial review, officer review, member confirmation; should be completed by the end of the week
      2. New strategies to try to improve efficiency
      3. Depending on org will reach out to Peter to determine financial liability
      4. CSO meeting 8-9 Wednesday
      5. Point of info demarri: please send out info
    2. Senator of the Month: October
      1. Aishani: nominates Kayla for her October dining event
      2. Paul: nominates Boyi, has been doing a lot of work within IA
      3. Shreemann: nominates Isaac, has been working very hard on initiatives
      4. RC: nominates himself, Jazz vetos
      5. Julia: nominates Mahima, has been working hard on events
      6. Votes:
        1. Kayla and Isaac tie → second vote → Kayla wins

  4. 6. First Reading

    1. SGA Funding Bill: Ceramics Empty Bowls - Senator Andrei Espelien
      1. Starting building culture and community for artists on campus
      2. On CSO and student engagement committee, representative for visual artists
      3. Space for student artists should be the BSC
      4. Ceramics club as anchor for this project, investing in equipment and infrastructure
      5. CMC is good example
      6. Art can be a great social tool, yet artists may not have opportunity to engage with communities
      7. Big picture: trying to build studio as reps of art-based PSO
      8. Many high schools often have pottery studios, JHU (universitY) doesn’t
      9. Want to build permanent presence on campus
      10. Civic engagement
        1. Create many plates and bowls, tie into food insecurity and work towards raising money for local food banks
        2. Want to start a first space
      11. Cost is to get the RSO off the ground
        1. First event will be a fundraising event
        2. Created bowls will be filled with food and donated to local food pantries/orgs
        3. Has had supportive student members so far, anyone will be able to use club space to support artistic students
      12. FAQs
        1. How is this set apart from different high cost bills?
          1. Asking for equipment, will not need continuous
        2. Why not buy used equipment or wheels?
          1. Don’t sell them, the vendor usually buys used wheels and repurposes them
        3. What alternative funding options exist?
          1. Exhausted other means of funding
        4. How much would external classes cost?
        5. What is student affairs/the BSC paying
        6. What would empty bowls on Homewood look like?
          1. Hoping to fill void that other initiatives can’t fill
        7. What community partners are you in contact with?
        8. How is this different room taking over SVDP’s work?
        9. Why is a prospective student organization even asking for event funding?
      13. RC: Motion to refer to finance, passed
    2. S-B.114.11.03.26-2 Attendance Consequence Clarification Act - Vice Chair of Internal Affairs Cole Liazos-Coffey
      1. Clarifying absence count
      2. Would like to charge and pass this today
      3. Demarri: motion for 3 min Q&A with moderated speaking time
        1. Demarri: if 3 absences 4 days ago, are we de-factor lowering the amount - technically up to debate, up to secretary
        2. Luke: how does half attendance work
          1. Jazz: when you are excused to leave the meeting early or come late
        3. Arjun: if person has to leave at 9, does that count as missing part of meeting
          1. Jazz: at discretion of secretary
      4. Demarri: motion to amend, not to apply retroactively
      5. Demarri: motion to discharge to second reading

  5. 7. Second Reading

    1. JHU Digital Stage Act.docx - Academic Affairs Chair Isaac Zhang
      1. Positive recommendation from student services
      2. Demarri: motion to pass, passes
    2. SGA Resolution - Equitable Access to AI Tools revised.docx- Academic Affairs Chair Isaac Zhang
      1. AA passed with positive recommendation
      2. Demarri: 3 min moderated caucus
        1. Demarri: discussion on access to models, can we make this equitable
        2. Andrei: is there any discussion of instances where we would want to restrict access to certain tools
          1. Andrei: should be cautious about making accessible as possible, some language about when it should be restricted
        3. Motion to extend 3 minutes
          1. RC: what would happen to HopGPT
            1. Everyone would be receiving standard $25 plan
          2. Aishani: lot of value to AI as a tool, making access of something more equitable is a good thing
          3. Rain: would like to see language on how to use AI responsibly and well
            1. Good point, but outside the scope of this bill
      3. Demarri: Motion to extend by 2 minutes, Aishani opposes, passes
        1. Amy: access doesn’t mean equal utilization by all people, still thinks that AI literacy clause is useful because it is related to access, also curious about privacy part; have you considered why other AI models have not been used - privacy concerns
          1. Isaac: admin has shared opinion
      4. Motion to amend 2nd paragraph to mention importance of AI use education/literacy
        1. Passed
      5. Kevin: motion to pass
        1. Opposed: luke, nifemi, andrei
        2. passed
    3. Procedural Clarification Reforms - Senator Boyi Chen
      1. Passed IA with positive recommendations
      2. Clarifies food, senator of month
      3. Paul/Cole: motion to pass, passes
    4. Establishing an LGBTQ+ Student Caucus - Vice Chair of Civic Engagement Sophia Baleeiro
      1. Passed with positive recommendations by IA
      2. Demarri: motion to amend action item due date to 12/1
      3. Demarri: motion to pass, passed
        1. Andrei abstains
    5. Closed Session Clarification Act - Vice Chair of Internal Affairs Cole Liazos-Coffey
      1. Boyi: motions to pass, passes
    6. Weed Warriors Event Funding Bill - Senator Aishani Garg
      1. Passed with positive recommendation from finance committee
      2. Cole: motion to pass, passes
    7. S-B.114.11.03.26-2 Attendance Consequence Clarification Act - Vice Chair of Internal Affairs Cole Liazos-Coffey
      1. Cole: Added clause at bottom, rules won’t be applied retroactively
        1. Paul: motion to pass, passed
    8. Cole: motion to adjourn

  6. 8. Cohort Time

  7. 9. Prospective Legislation & Announcements

  8. 10. Closing and Adjournment

    SGA meetings are always slated to extend until 9:00 PM, however SGA members are expected to remain in the Senate chamber until official adjournment by motion.